Golf tee



E. H. JONES June 7,1927.

GOLF TEE Filed July 31. 1926 lNV NTOR ATTORNEY Patented June 7, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELEANOR H. JONES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

GOLF 'rmr.

Application med July a1, 1926. Serial No. 128,162.

This invention relates to golf tees, and has for an object the provision of a golf tee which can be used frequently without being broken or deformed; and which possesses also the desirable advantages of a tee that obviates any risk of injury to the various clubs used by the player in driving the ball from the tee in the several plays for which such a tee is needed; is readily adjustable by insertion into the ground to different depths in order to hold the ball at the difi'erent heights required; and is so formed that it affords a firm support for the ball without interfering with read clearance of the ball from the tee under tie action of any club used, but which tends to leave the ground it struck by a club in play, rather than be broken or bent by the force of the stroke.

Another object is to provide a tee which cannot be knocked off the teeing ground, comprising a brace of tee members, respectivel having ball-supporting heads and 5 121 connected by a leash, so that either may be used to support a ball, and each serves as an anchor for the other, whereb the twin tee thus constituted is retained 1n position to be secured immediately after a stroke is played.

Still a further object is to provide a golf tee having a shank of fiat metal with its up er end bent over to form a head portion, an provided with a leash composed of a metal cable attached firmly to the head the region of attachment being surrounded b resilient material moulded to form a bal supporting head which completely encloses and protects the metallic parts so as not to permit injury to a club.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tee of novel shape, havin a base portion of inverted frusto-conical s ape, s0

that it permits insertion to a greater or less extent into the ground of a soft nature, but with increasing resistance as the depth of in sertion increases; the top of the tee bein formed in a irusto-conical shape of reverse taper, and having a ball supporting depression formed in its upper face. f

Another object of the invention is to provide a tee having a ballsupporting' art of light colored material, and a shank o bright stainless, enamelled or painted metal, sothat the tee is not-only weatherproof but can also be readily found it displaced by the stroke,

5 for insertion into the ground, being and will not be easily overlooked if left in the ground.

The above objects and others are fully described in the specification and are illustrated in the drawings and pointed out in the claims. I

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view partly in section and partly in elevation of a brace of twin golf tees in the construction of which my invention has been embodied.

Fig. 2 is a view in rspective of one of the tees, omittin the all-supporting head to show the prelerred mode of attachment of the leash.

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of a modified form of blank for the shank of a tee.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a brace of tees formed with the modified shank shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of one of the modifled tees, isolated.

In accordance with an important feature of the invention, I provide a brace of tees, asshown in Fig. 1, and each of which is designated by the reference numeral 1, connected b a leash 2 and either of which may I the other serving as an anthe tee is driven from the the can be readily picked up, or if desired it may be easily replaced and another ball placed upon it and driven from it or another ball may be placed upon, and driven from the companion tee, thus insuring maintenance of identical conditions for the play of successive balls.

Such a brace of tees gives to a player the same degree of confidence in playing that is secured ordinarily only by the use of the conventional destructible tee formed of sand or like material, of which one has to be shaped for each stroke, with the incidental irregularities of shape and uncertainties of operation that attend the employment of these adventitious sand tees even when made with the assistance of moulds. In spite of these well recognized disadvantages of the sand tees, their use by the most skillful players has persisted, for the reason chiefly that none of the substitutes of which many have been devised, ailords the respective advantages yielded by the novel tee herein disclosed.

7 formed substantially in the inverted frustoconical shape illustrated at 3, for convenience in manufacture. may also be iruslo-conical in shape and may have a ball-supporting rim, if desired, as indicated at i.

ll prefer to make this ball-supporting member of resilient material, such as india rubber, to avoid injury to the clubs used and to the tee, and I prefer also to use a light colored material, for the sake of visibility. In order to aid in securing the desired erect position of the tee in the ground, I prefer to mould the ball-supp ntin5 part of the tee u on a shank 5 having a )ayonet point 6 a apted to be inserted in the vround, the shank portion being preferably dirt, in order to facilitate its insertion in the cracks or crevices often found in teeing grounds when the latter'are made of clay, as is often the case in southern countries. This shank is preferably made of bright, stainless metal or enamelled or painted metal, both for the sake of visibility and to avoid the unpleasant appearance which comes from the presence of rust.

In accordance with another important feature of the invention, I provide a very strong leash 2 for the tee, and also provide for a very firm. attachment between the leash and tee, and between the ball-supportin part of the tee and the shank thereof; an in pursuance of this object I have shown the leash 2 as made of ametal strand or cable, the end 7 of which is united integrally with the shank shown at 8 in Fig. 2 by splitting the upper end of the shank to form a cleft within which the end 7 of the leash is embraced and held firmly. The split portion is preferably bent around as indicated to constitute a head loop open at the sides to give access to the material of the ball-supporting; head, so that when the maserial is moulded upon this head loop of the shank, as shown in section at the lefthand side of Fig. l, the material enters the head as indicated at d and unites the halisup orting part to the shank and to the The top of the tee 'modification in Figs. 3, at, and

ient material will receive the entire force of the impact, and has been found in practice and so does not tend to distract the attention v a of the player, who may however derive a certain desirable indication of direction from the presence of the leash between the twin tees.

Modifications of the structure and mate rial may be adopted as found suitable and desirable, and l have illustrated one such in this modification, the shank may be straight, as at 11 or may have a somewhat wavy character, as at 17, with a bayonet point, and has its upper and bent over to form an eye 12 from which the central part 13 is bent in an opposite direction, to constitute with the eye 12 a laterally extending head as shown clear- 1y at the left-hand ortion oi: Fig. l, Where a complete tee is s own in vertical section with the shank in elevation.

The eye 12 may be desirably used as a means for the attachment of one end oi a leash 14 which may be formed as a cable secured to the eye before the ball-su porting head is moulded thereupon, and t e leash may desirably have a cover 15 of rubber or other suitable material, as already described with reference to the leash 2.

The ball-supporting part 16 may corre spend in general contour and arran ement with that already described with regerence to the structure shown in Fig. 1, or may be of any suitable contour.

I claim:

1. A golf tee comprising a brace of ballsupporting members eacli'having a ball-supporting head and a shank for insertion into the ground, said shanks having their u per portions connected by a leash, and said ballsupporting heads being molded upon, and completely surrounding the attachment between said shanks and said leash 2. A golf tee comprising, a brace of ballsupport-mg members each having a metal shank for insertion into the ground, said shanks having their heads connected by a leash of metal cable provided with a non metallic covering and said members having ball-supporting heads molded upon the heads of said shanks and the portions of said leash attached thereto.

A golf tee comprising a brace of ballsupporting members each having a metal shank for insertion into the ground, said shanks-having their heads connected by a leash of metal cable covered with braided silir and said members having ball-supportheads formed of rubber molded upon 1,ea1,27o

the heads of said shanks and completely surrounding the attachments between said heads and said leash. v

4. A golf tee comprising a ball-supporting head, a shank for insertion into the ground,

and a leash attached to the upper portion of said shank, said ball-supportin head being molded upon, and completeFy surrounding, the attachment between said shank and said leash.

5. A golf tee comprising a ball-supporting head, a metal shank for insertion into the ground, and a leash of metal cable attached to the head of said shank, and said ballsupporting head being formed of rubber molded upon the head of said shank and the portion of said leash attached thereto.

6. A golf tee comprising a ball-supporting part molded of resilient material upon a shank of metal having an attaching head formed b splitting the upper portion of said sha and bending said split portion at an angleto the shank, and a leash .secured in said s lit head portion and extending outwar ly therefrom through said molded material.

7.' A golf tee comprising a metal shank having one end split and bent to form a head a leash secured in said split head, and a ball-supporting part molded around said head and completely enclosing said region of attachment. 8. A golf tee comprising a ball-supporting head of light-colored resilient material molded upon a shank of bright, stainless metal and provided with a metal leash covered with green fabric.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

ELEANOR H. JONES. 

